Originally Emailed:
Hello from China! Since nobody asked to be taken off and I actually got some encouragement, I have decided to write another entry into my travel blog. I am not sure if this is a blog as much as a running diary, but I like the term blog. Opposed to my last entry that was more story, I am going to try a new tactic by putting together a list. It seems popular on the Facebook ( a social networking site...for you Mom), so here is a list of 20 things from my experience so far in China
1. Shanghai is really really cool. It is an interesting mix of old and new, traditional and colonial, east and west. The coolest part of Shanghai is the old town. It is like a place out of the movies or books with classic Chinese buildings that compare to American Chinatowns. Really incredible city.
2. They are not kidding about the amount of people here. Shanghai has a population of over 18 million people which is roughly the same as the entire state of Florida. High rises are everywhere and there is apartment complex after apartment complex in the suburbs. The apartment complexes are not like a Tivoli or Regency Village (or Indian Village for whatever Noles' fans that may be reading), they are each about 30 stories high and are in groups of 6. Pretty Insane
3. The food sucks. And not only the Chinese food but the western food which tastes a little bit off. At least the western food is a tad off, because the authentic Chinese food is way way off. I do not expect to eat a number 23 (sweet and sour chicken) with a number 14 (Ginger Beef) with a side of egg rolls, but at least throw us some rice. The highlights of lunch today, which is served on a lazy susan, were ducks feet, smoked fish including eyes that were the size of sardines, some type of chopped up pork, bamboo shoots and frog. They did have some type of fish as well but it must have lived on a diet of dirt since that is what it tasted like. Dinner was much better since we were able to choose some of it but it did include mayo covered tongue. I must say though that while I did not eat most of it, I did try the tongue and the ducks feet. Not awful, if you did not think about what you were eating and you chugged your beer or soda after. I am now going to throw up. (Five minutes later)
4. The Chinese do not believe in heat. It is cold as shit here and they never turn on the heat in the factories. Very nice of them.
5. They love American muzak here. For those who do not know, muzak is the elevator music that you hear walking around. It is just the melody and you are very like to hear the Celine Dion Titanic song or any slow song at any time.
6. There must be no waste management. Garbage is everywhere. Neither roads nor rivers or houses are spared.
7. The Chinese are the nicest people I have met. They are all willing to help and often ask if you need direction as you walk the streets. One gentleman even took us five minutes out of his way to find a dumpling shop.
8. It is worth way more than five minutes out of your way to find the Nanxiang Mantou Dian dumpling shop in Shanghai. There is a 200 person line at all times waiting outside to buy dumplings at the window. We went inside and got in fairly quickly. They serve dumplings, soup and beer. You need nothing else in this world.
9. Driving is not what the Chinese do best. I have never thought I was going to die as many times this week since I watched Michael learn to drive.
10. Although Pinghu, the town I am in now has no english stations and I mean none, most of China has Cinemax and HBO.
11. I could live in China since you do not have to mow the lawn. Everywhere you look people are growing crops instead of grass. Maybe they should try growing a burger or too somewhere. I mean a good burger.
12. If you like fruit, you will be happy here. Every table you sit at whether it be dinner, lunch or a conference table, you will find fruit. I am actually in the Watermelon capital of China right now. Now you know the answer to a future Jeopardy question.
13. Don't Drink the Water, Blood in the Water. While there may be no blood, Dave Matthews was right about drinking the water. You can not, even the hotel puts it in their room directory. The good thing is that there is a Zephryhills style water jug in my room. So bizarre.
14. Awful, awful teeth. The guy who looked like he ate ink today almost made me throw up. Maybe there's ink in the water, ink in the water.
15. The lantern festival is going on across the country including Taiwan. There are lanterns everywhere in all shapes and colors. It is really pretty neat.
16. The Chinese love Winnie the Pooh. It is on everything here. Hello Kitty better watch it's back.
17. While China is becoming stronger and stronger economically, it is interesting to see how much it relies on the US economy. Many factories are closing here and a lot of hotels are less than full. I can truly see that we are one world.
18. We get served drink after drink at every meal we have. If you have seen Slumdog Millionaire, each company has it's own Jamal that serves drinks to us. Whether I want it or not, there is usually tea, water and coffee in front of me at anytime. It is next to the fruit.
19. The poverty is sad. Some of the houses are barely what you would call a house and they are piled with garbage.
20. Anyone should come here since it is an experience.
We leave for Guangzhou tomorrow before heading to Hong Kong. I will hopefully post a blog before Hong Kong and I hope all are well.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Asia Blog Entry #1
My first ever travel blog entry. It was orginally emailed:
My mom wanted me to write a travel blog so i figured I would start it out with an email. I will try to send periodic emails of my trip and if you want to skip them, just let me know and I will take you off.
Day one (or two? So confused on time.) Left LA to Taipei on Thursday night and landed on Saturday. Flight was uneventful but never ending. When I was looking at the Flight Info map at one point, it showed that we were over Japan. "Japan, we must be close," I naively thought. But unlike the people, there is not short distances between the countries and we had another 4 hrs to go. Between the 10 bottles of water I drank on the plane, I was able to sleep and watch three movies. Rock n' Rolla is quite good if anyone wants to see a good flick. Guy Ritchie has finally gone back to gangster flicks which is a welcome site for all of us esp Derek and I who were big fans of his first two movies.
The funny thing is that no matter how far we go, it seems like we always run into someone from the US or most importantly Florida. Did not take me that long as I was seated next to a guy from Miami on my flight. He was a freight forwarder and tried to sell me his services multiple times on the flight. As I have learned from my Dad and my brother, I passed the buck and told him that I do not handle it and he gave me information. I look forward to transferring his call in the future.
After landing and clearing customs in record time, we headed to the hotel. After cleaning up we decided to explore Taipei. It made the smog in LA look like Fiji since you could not see much. Of course the overcast sky did not help, but it is not the prettiest city. The one thing they do like building is temples to past leaders. I guess it is good to be a dead leader of Taiwan, because we went to two temples and they were two of the more impressive things that I have seen. Chang Kai Sheck (sp?) was the most impressive since he basically founded modern Taiwan for better or worse. (long story I'm told.) The best part of Taipei was the flower market which showed me a little bit about what the local life is like.
After going to the temples we had the unenviable task of finding lunch. Although almost everything is in English in airports, hotels, and subways, they do not like English people to eat lunch and I did not want to pick and pray on a menu in Taiwanese. After about an hour of looking we stumbled on the Red Onion Steakhouse. It was surprisingly not bad, but quite interesting. To begin, they had the world's shortest mix tape playing so we got to hear Endless Love three times. Not that I was complaining. They love to bathe everything in a gravy type sauce, so it did not matter if it was overcooked. But the best was the before dinner complimentary drink of apple cider vinegar. I think it was sometime of apple drink that fermented over time and smelled just like apple cider vinegar. Although good for black beans (that's for you Geoff), it was not good to drink. The first sip tasted like vinegar and the next sweet. Very odd place, but better than the Pizza Hut we were going to wait an hour for. I think Shrimp and Mayo pizza would have been delicious.
After lunch, we went back to the hotel and passed out for 13 hours and skipped dinner. We will be back in Taipei next week to see the other stuff we missed. After the long sleep, I finally feel like it is the right time and look forward to the rest of the trip. I am in the China Air lounge at the Taipei airport right now and about to board the plane to Shanghai. Finally headed to China and can not wait.
Till the next time,Matthew
My mom wanted me to write a travel blog so i figured I would start it out with an email. I will try to send periodic emails of my trip and if you want to skip them, just let me know and I will take you off.
Day one (or two? So confused on time.) Left LA to Taipei on Thursday night and landed on Saturday. Flight was uneventful but never ending. When I was looking at the Flight Info map at one point, it showed that we were over Japan. "Japan, we must be close," I naively thought. But unlike the people, there is not short distances between the countries and we had another 4 hrs to go. Between the 10 bottles of water I drank on the plane, I was able to sleep and watch three movies. Rock n' Rolla is quite good if anyone wants to see a good flick. Guy Ritchie has finally gone back to gangster flicks which is a welcome site for all of us esp Derek and I who were big fans of his first two movies.
The funny thing is that no matter how far we go, it seems like we always run into someone from the US or most importantly Florida. Did not take me that long as I was seated next to a guy from Miami on my flight. He was a freight forwarder and tried to sell me his services multiple times on the flight. As I have learned from my Dad and my brother, I passed the buck and told him that I do not handle it and he gave me information. I look forward to transferring his call in the future.
After landing and clearing customs in record time, we headed to the hotel. After cleaning up we decided to explore Taipei. It made the smog in LA look like Fiji since you could not see much. Of course the overcast sky did not help, but it is not the prettiest city. The one thing they do like building is temples to past leaders. I guess it is good to be a dead leader of Taiwan, because we went to two temples and they were two of the more impressive things that I have seen. Chang Kai Sheck (sp?) was the most impressive since he basically founded modern Taiwan for better or worse. (long story I'm told.) The best part of Taipei was the flower market which showed me a little bit about what the local life is like.
After going to the temples we had the unenviable task of finding lunch. Although almost everything is in English in airports, hotels, and subways, they do not like English people to eat lunch and I did not want to pick and pray on a menu in Taiwanese. After about an hour of looking we stumbled on the Red Onion Steakhouse. It was surprisingly not bad, but quite interesting. To begin, they had the world's shortest mix tape playing so we got to hear Endless Love three times. Not that I was complaining. They love to bathe everything in a gravy type sauce, so it did not matter if it was overcooked. But the best was the before dinner complimentary drink of apple cider vinegar. I think it was sometime of apple drink that fermented over time and smelled just like apple cider vinegar. Although good for black beans (that's for you Geoff), it was not good to drink. The first sip tasted like vinegar and the next sweet. Very odd place, but better than the Pizza Hut we were going to wait an hour for. I think Shrimp and Mayo pizza would have been delicious.
After lunch, we went back to the hotel and passed out for 13 hours and skipped dinner. We will be back in Taipei next week to see the other stuff we missed. After the long sleep, I finally feel like it is the right time and look forward to the rest of the trip. I am in the China Air lounge at the Taipei airport right now and about to board the plane to Shanghai. Finally headed to China and can not wait.
Till the next time,Matthew
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